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Roatan and Bay Islands Discussion List Archive
| Posted On: | 28-Feb-2003 |
| From: | [galaxyrodeo.....com] |
| Subject: | [roatan] Re: americans on roatan!! -- My take on the U.S. Ambassadors conference |
FYI - The history of Arabs in Honduras goes back to the fact that they were persecuted for being Christians and therefore relocated to Honduras. It should be noted that the majority of them are Christians and do not feel any sort of sovreignty with Islamic/Muslim fundamentalists. They have absolutely nothing to do with Islam and the whole "jihad" mentality. --- In roatan.....com, cunamara....... wrote: > The Ambassador's conference focused largely on security -- in general and in > specific relation to the upcoming war with Iraq. > > I put the latter that way because the vice-counsel was very explicit. To use > his reiterated words: "It's not 'if,' it's 'when'." He said Honduras was > viewed by Washington as NOT a logical target but that opportunistic > terrorists could be expected to choose "soft" targets anywhere in the world: > i.e., easy targets involving U.S. citizens or interests that might not be > well-protected. Hence, we advised to be alert to any suspicious situations. > It was pointed out that illicit Honduran passports have been found in the > possession of terrorist groups in other countries and one attendee reminded > the group that San Pedro and Tegucigalpa have surprisingly large numbers of > citizens with Arab backgrounds. > > I was initially alarmed by what I thought sounded a bit alarmist, but then I > realized that they were simply choosing to risk erring on the side of > caution. They advised us that, in the case of some high-alert scenario for > U.S. citizens in Honduras, they would definitely NOT have the means to > evacuate anyone except Embassy personnel (which, if it happened, would > probably be in the form of a staff reduction at most). Therefore, we would > each have to decide for ourselves, individually, how threatened we felt and > what we thought best to do about it. They suggested that it would not be > unreasonable for someone to decide to return to the States until the danger > was past. > > The mood of the group in response to this was not such that I expected to > see people lining up to buy tickets for the States. However, I wondered if > there might be some cautionary shifting of upcoming travel plans. As for me > personally, this is currently home and it's where I intend to be. I had a > vague sense that the majority of us "Residents" felt the same way. > > On a more general level, there was some information that lent some needed > perspective to the recently-discussed issue of personal security on Roatan. > In the past five years, six U.S. citizens have been murdered on Roatan and, > to date, none of those cases have been resolved. However, very importantly, > investigations in four of those cases confirmed that drugs or > drug-trafficking was involved. That leaves but two cases in five years that > was not drug-related, including the one that occurred just a few weeks ago. > Hardly an alarming statistic. > > As to the one that occurred a few weeks ago: an attendee close to the > situation confirmed the Embassy's statement that they are pulling out all > stops to see that this case was resolve satisfactorily. Under an "ongoing > investigation" policy, not much was either shared or confirmed in the way of > specifics, but we were left with clear impression that both Embassy and FBI > resources were being utilized. > > There was the now-usual warning about purchasing property on Roatan, based > primarily on the fact that not one of about 195 complaints reported to the > Embassy in the past 5 years has been resolved. As the Vice-Counsel bluntly > put it, the system simply "ain't working." He gave the State Department's > currently standing position on buying land in Honduras: "Don't." However, he > went on to indicate that, if you do, be very careful. > > His advice seemed to do little more than confirm what most of us > longer-termers have learned. While there is no such thing as a zero-risk > situation, the level of risk can be lowered substantially if one proceeds > with as much care as is reasonably possible. Conversely, if a newcomer jumps > at an easy deal that seems almost too good to be true -- well, as they say, > it probably is -- but even more so in Honduras. > > I think most felt that the Ambassador and his staff presented themselves > quite well. They made it quite clear that they have little in the way of > quick and easy solutions for solving problems that occur within the > framework of Honduran sovereignty. Using the escape strategy depicted in the > "Shawshank Redemption" movie as an analogy, the Ambassador said that they > basically see themselves as chipping away at the system relentlessly until > they begin to see the light of day. > > Those were some quick highlights as I heard them. There were a scattering of > questions on other subjects but most were related to security and property > concerns. I'm sure there are other listees who may have picked on stuff that > I might have missed. > > -Tom > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "philip douglas haney" > To: > Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 12:40 PM > Subject: Re: [roatan] americans on roatan!! > > > > Sandi, > > PLEASE...take notes! We will not be able to attend but want to know > EVERYTHING! > > Thanks, > > Doug & Becky > > soon to be at Punta Blanca > > > > ===== > > "Still in Search of the Lost Chord..." > > > > _____ > > > > Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more > > http://taxes.yahoo.com/ | |
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